“Which M45 member of Orion Harriers, with best times of 18:08 for a parkrun and 34:54 for 10K, who finished 98th in 20:23 in the Chingford League 5K last month, has just won a world championship?” was the question we used earlier this week to test your knowledge of sports trivia on social media.
Naturally, the 46-year-old Ronnie O’Sullivan is the answer. After winning his first world trophy 21 years prior, he went on to become the oldest snooker world champion in history and solidified his reputation as the greatest player of all time by winning a record-tying seventh title in the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield on Bank Holiday Monday, May 2.
‘Rocket’ Ronnie thanked world-class Masters sprinter and sports psychiatrist Professor Steve Peters for aiding him in maintaining concentration during his post-match interviews. Peters holds several track world records. The happy family guy from Chigwell also spoke about the significance of his pre-match workouts, jogging, and conditioning.
The 17-day global snooker tournament is surprisingly physically demanding, requiring players to spend a lot of time on their feet and stretch extensively in order to position themselves for those incredible pots and snooker escapes.
Ronnie has spent the majority of his competitive career playing for his second claim club, the Epping Forest-based Orion Harriers, even though he is best known for being a first claim member of Woodford Green alongside Essex Ladies.
His best parkrun time (18:08) was on July 11, 2015, in Hackney Marshes, one of his six parkrun appearances.
Early in his snooker career, he gained the moniker “Rocket” for his rapidity around the table (he was among the fastest players ever for average shot time), which may also have something to do with the way he ran. The fact that Ronnie always feels the need for speed, even in his running training, makes him less enthusiastic about taking leisurely jogs to decompress in between competitions.
Ronnie loves the rough and tumble of cross country running despite the possibility of damage. He did break his ankle while running in 2014, and he had to play snooker in his trainers for a spell after spraining his ankle in 2017.
Ronnie O’Sullivan has been transparent about how jogging has assisted him in coping with his father’s incarceration, his struggles with mental health during his career, and his alcohol and drug addictions that resulted in a 15-stone weight gain. Running has been a constant and balancing force in his life despite all of the ups and downs; in fact, he labeled it “My religion, my belief system” in his 2013 book, Running.
